In an effort to create easier access to online help for its customers, Comcast recently redesigned and relaunched its support forums, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. The new forums have updated search engines, improved home page and related content features, and a focus on "peer-to-peer" interaction, it said. Comcast also said the forums will include increased participation by its Digital Care team.

Most Xfinity Voice customers don't want spare batteries for their residential phone service, so the company has opted not to provide them, Comcast said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-174. FCC staff had asked for information about Comcast's backup battery policy for Xfinity Voice customers, and the company sells them for about $41 for its voice modem, Comcast said. Before February 2013, those batteries were free, and customers were notified when a battery was depleted and needed replacement, the company said. But only 13 percent of customers would follow through and get the replacements, and in 2014 fewer than 1 percent of Xfinity Voice customers bought backups, the company said. "It would be inequitable to require its entire residential voice customer base to support the significant costs of providing backup batteries to all customers when only a small fraction of those customers valued the batteries."

Streaming Showtime is headed to more devices, as the premium channel's new streaming option will be available via Roku and the PlayStation Vue next month, Showtime said Monday. Showtime announced its streaming service earlier this month, saying it would be available initially via Apple products when it starts in July (see 1506030026). The monthly subscription cost, whether on an iPad or via Roku Vue, would be the same at $10.99 a month. Showtime's streaming service follows HBO's April announcement of a similar streaming option.

It’s an “indisputable reality” that the video market has changed “dramatically” since the 1992 Cable Act, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May in a blog post Monday praising FCC adoption of a nationwide rebuttable presumption of cable competition (see 1506040053). “Considering the competition that has existed in the video marketplace for many years, the Commission could have -- and should have -- taken this deregulatory step long ago,” May said. “Deregulatory presumptions” like the FCC rule change are pro-competition and pro-consumer, he said.

The "cable guy" perception of the cable industry -- stuck in increasingly outdated technology, with good customer service remaining elusive -- contains "kernels of truth" but is largely wrong, said NCTA President Michael Powell. The cable industry "has been working to chart a new course," Powell said in a column posted Monday on LinkedIn. The piece contrasts some of the negative perceptions the industry faces with what Powell called its "impactful and sustained actions." He said the cable industry "is driving toward widely available gigabit Internet speeds by 2017. We are deploying hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots that allow consumers to access the Internet when untethered from their homes. From voice-controlled remotes to easier search options, companies are refreshing and transforming interfaces and navigation. On-demand libraries are growing deeper and easier to access." Comcast recently announced a huge effort to improve, he said, citing its commitment to spend $300 million on customer service and hire 5,500 new customer service professionals as among examples of cable "listening, learning and responding to complaints."

Cable One will split from parent Graham Holdings effective July 1, when Graham hands out shares of the cable operator's stock to Graham shareholders. Everyone holding a share of Graham stock June 15 will receive a share of Cable One July 1 as part of the spin-off, the media and educational services conglomerate company said in a Thursday news release. Shares in cable company are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CABO.

Cox Communications is repeating its push for substantial conditions on AT&T's planned buy of DirecTV. The cable company said a combined company would mean "substantial dangers ... to competition for bundled video, voice, and data services." In an ex parte notice posted Friday in docket 14-90, Cox repeated and elaborated on several objections to the proposed deal and proposed regulatory steps to fix them, including that all video services offered by AT&T/DirecTV should be subject to Communications Act Section 628 rules, and requiring that AT&T/DirecTV use its own wiring -- not another provider's -- in any multidwelling unit it serves, or that it take steps to ensure it doesn't somehow interfere with a competitor's broadband service on that wiring infrastructure. AT&T/DirecTV will mean higher programming costs for smaller operators like Cox, as programmers raise prices on them to make up for the volume discounts a larger player like AT&T/DirecTV will be able to command, Cox said, repeating its request the FCC to limit those volume discounts as well to limit any exclusive programming contracts of AT&T/DirecTV. AT&T and DirecTV previously called some of the proposed conditions being put forward by deal critics “self-serving demands ... designed only to advance unrelated business interests" (see 1505270049).

Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge made a pitch for approval of Charter's buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, as he met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to discuss the deal, the company said in an ex parte notice posted Friday in dockets 14-28 and 10-127. Rutledge told Wheeler the acquisitions "will bring substantial consumer benefits," such as improved Internet service for users, and won't lessen competition, the company said. Rutledge also told Wheeler that Charter generally agrees with open Internet rules, such as prohibition of paid prioritization, but "the company remains concerned about the regulatory uncertainty and potential unintended consequences" of the net neutrality order.

Altice isn't on a shopping spree for other U.S. communications companies, it said Thursday as it and Suddenlink Communications filed a joint application seeking regulatory approval of Altice's proposed takeover of Suddenlink. The application broadly spells out Suddenlink's expected ownership structure and makes a case for FCC approval, as the two said it would give Suddenlink "access to Altice’s operational expertise, scale and resources, thereby allowing [the combined companies] to become even more robust competitors in the marketplace for telecommunications services." Once the deal is concluded, Altice will indirectly own 70 percent of Suddenlink equity, with existing Suddenlink shareholders retaining the other 30 percent, the two said. Suddenlink would be the European telecommunications and cable company's entry into the U.S. market. It "has no existing interest in any United States communications entity, and thus Altice’s investment in ... will serve to bolster domestic voice, video, and broadband competition," the two said.

Time Warner Cable's four-year-old outdoor Wi-Fi network has grown to Dallas, San Antonio and Raleigh, North Carolina, the cable company said Thursday. The network -- part of TWC's network of 100,000 indoor and outdoor hot spots nationwide -- started in Los Angeles in 2011, and since expanded to New York City; Austin; Kansas City; Charlotte; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; San Diego and Palm Springs, California; and the state of Hawaii. It's available for free to Time Warner Cable residential Internet customers or on a pay-as-you-go basis to others.